A/N: And so, we arrive at the Epilogue. I quite thought that we would never get here! Now it's pretty sad to see it go… But let's get on with it, shall we?

Disclaimer: For the final time this fic, if I were to post you a letter with a list of everything I own, I needn't use an envelope or paper- it would all fit on the stamp.

Epilogue: When it's All Been Said and Done

Duke held onto Kaho, and Kaho onto Téa, and Téa onto Yugi, and Yugi onto Mokuba, and Mokuba onto Mai, and Mai onto Joey, and Joey onto Tristan, and Tristan onto Ruby, and Ruby onto Emerald, and Emerald onto Opal, and Opal onto Millierie, and Millierie onto Well, and Well onto Danielle, and Danielle onto Ryan, and Ryan onto Joseph, and Joseph onto Bethany, and Bethany onto Maria, and Maria onto another Ruby, and Ruby onto Doug. Miss Basa stood off to one side, guarding the forest as always, making sure nobody disturbed them; and also keeping a beady eye on both James and Cassie as the others held the porthole open as best they could. They were mentally exhausted, concentration gradually slipping away, meaning there were dips and surges in the Porthole, when, all of a sudden, it happened.

Through their time of being connected to Wherever, they had grown sensitive to it; and so when it threw off the cover that had been sticking to it, they all felt it. The sudden surge of Wherever reasserting itself on their minds caused the muses among them to fall to their knees, but still, no-one let go. They had to keep the opening there just a little longer, just to allow them to get back, otherwise they'd have to wait for goodness knew how long to get out. So they had to keep it open. Just a little longer…

Then, certainly, it would be time for one serious celebration.

But then, they all realised that they would not be coming back. They didn't know how they knew, or what, exactly, they knew; but they knew Seto and Anna would not be coming back through that porthole. They had gone, first Azreal and then Kaiba. Somehow, the city knew it, so they knew it to; mutely, they all let go of their stubbornly maintained circle and let the porthole die. No-one said anything for quite a while, although a few among them began to cry.

"Who woulda thought it…" Joey muttered. "Kaiba dying for a cause…?"

"But they did it." Millierie put in quietly. "They saved Wherever, you all felt it. They did it."

Doug smiled. "That's my girl." He whispered.

"I…" Mokuba stammered, voice cracking as he cried in a childlike way. "I guess I should just be glad that he figured out how to be happy first, right? I kinda thought he never would… And then Ann… she…" he shook his head, unable to speak any more.

"For all her oddities, she meant a lot to a lot of people." Kaho finished, smiling softly.

"And they made a difference to seven million, seventy-four thousand, two hundred and sixty-five people who now have a home to go back to." Ruby put in. "That's not a bad legacy to leave."

People nodded in agreement. They supposed that, really, that was all anyone could ask for. When it had all been said and done, there was just one thing that mattered- not any earthly treasure, but rather, had you done good. Was there one single person in all the world who would remember good of you? Making a positive difference to just one person made it all worthwhile. And they could both rest assured that they had done that. That was some comfort in a situation that otherwise would have been unbearable. There would be time for grief later.

"What now?" Yugi was asking of Millierie. "What's next for the Muses?"

She gave him a crooked grin. "Haven't you realised? It's already begun!"

Yugi blinked as the others turned their attention to Millierie, but it was Kaho who spoke.

"The second the Nothing came away, the chutes and portholes opened up again." She said, quietly. "All the Muses will have felt it. Across the world there'll be a mass exodus of Muses going on as they all rush to their nearest portholes; to go home, to get back to where they belong. And they'll want to know who saved them…"

"Don't worry." Opal put in, stonily. "They'll know. Right, mom?"

"Yes." Millierie nodded. "There'll be a lot of celebration in Wherever tonight; of them and of what they did." She grasped Well and Opal again. "Let's get this porthole open again. It's time we were going home."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

The Muses returned, crowding into Chutes as best they could, as many people as possible going back up at once, joyous and jubilatory. They ran through the streets, amazed at the changes from the last time they'd been there. The Nothing had gone! Even hanging over the edge of Level Four, they could see it had cleared from Levels Three through to One as well. It was amazing! Extraordinary! Not only had Millierie got them out before it was too late, she'd got them back as well! The celebrations would go long into the night for a city that was almost lost but was then found again.

All at once, a whisper got around, passed from ear to ear or shouted from the rooftops. To the Palisades, it said. And as soon as they heard, the Muses moseyed.

Millierie Kiyoko was waiting for them, standing on the flat roof of one of the shops. She was crying, in full view of everyone. The first mutterings of confusion began as more and more citizens of Wherever crowded in; spilling up precariously to the roofs of buildings. Shouldn't she be happy? Was it, like others, tears of happiness…?

All at once, a great cheer, a roar, sprang up; increasing in dynamics and in texture, as more and more voices and animal sounds joined the chorus. They were cheering Millierie. But she didn't seem to accept the praise, holding up her hands to stop them. Then, at last, she spoke; her voice echoing loud and clear from her elevated position.

"Something amazing has occurred today." She said, quashing another shout as it rose up in agreement. "But it has cost more then any of you know! My youngest daughter, my Azreal, went to Earth more then eighteen months ago; she wasn't dead. But today, she, and her friend Seto Kaiba, came back. And not only did they come back, they saved us. Not me, them. A half-human, and, 'worse', a human." She bit her lip hard. "They died, but they saved this city that hates them first. Which just goes to show that the rift between our races has grown too wide. I knew that, and my daughter was proof. Our prejudices blind us, my friends."

The square was silent. This was not the patriotic speech people had been anticipating.

"But not any more." Millierie promised. "Children will no longer be educated to think of humans as a tool for us to get what we want! This is the new age of Wherever- We shouldn't have to hide away from the humans any longer! We've always said we have to be secret because humans would never accept us… but how do we know if we don't accept them first?"

A deathly silence fell, but then one brave solitary person began clapping. More and more joined in. Millierie grinned.

"But, for now… Let's party!" She declared. From behind her, a huge cascade of balloons billowed up, and on another one of the roofs, a hastily assembled began to play.

And the Muses didn't need telling twice.

Say one thing for Millierie Kiyoko- she knew how to throw a party, and fast.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Screw this. I'm climbing up."

"No! Don't move, you might break what's left!"

Seto sighed deeply.

"…I've been in some inconvenient positions before," Azreal considered. "But this just takes the biscuit. And eats it. Hmm, and to think, this day started out being normal."

"You don't say."

The first few seconds after the platform collapsed had been very confusing. It had tilted violently to one side, and, as he had rolled down it, Seto had realised that the broken chains would still be hanging beneath it. His only chance of salvation. He had grabbed hold of this chain, narrowly avoiding the fate of falling straight into the Nothing. He'd actually survived.

And so had Azreal, despite the fact that she had been absorbed by the Nothing.

Once, many months ago, Téa had asked if there was anything they could do to stop her from dying, and Azreal's response had been blunt: 'Not unless you know a way to kill off my Muse half completely separately to my human one'. At the time, she had not thought there was actually a way to do so. However, as things turned out, she had accidentally stumbled on one. Muses were more sesptible to the Nothing then humans were, and so, it followed that Muse halves were also more sesptible then human ones. This resulted in Azreal, having been absorbed while in her Muse form, being spat back out in her human one.

Well, that was the theory, anyway. In all honesty, she wasn't quite sure what had happened or how. She was just glad it had.

Of course, when she had been spat back out, she had plummeted straight through the air until Seto, acting completely instinctively, grabbed her. Now she was clinging to the chain beneath him, hoping desperately that it would not break again. He had been understandably surprised. But, then again, so had she.

The problem was this- they couldn't move without risking the platform falling away completely. Their arms were already stiff from holding on for such a long time, and then, even when the Muses did make it back to Wherever, their cries for help could not be heard over the sound of the parties and parades being held in their honor. Someone up there must find their lives hilarious. Still, at least they finally had time to talk. Seto had presumed that now she was a hero and all, she would be staying in Wherever- obviously where she considered her home. But when he'd suggested it, she'd laughed so hard she had almost fallen off. When she realised he wasn't joking, she had said, sounding surprised: 'You must be kidding. It took me fifteen years to get away!'.

But before too long they had run out of conversation, and, unable to stand it any longer, Seto had just decided to try and climb up- had Azreal not squashed that idea.

She may have been stuck hanging off a flimsy chain above the last of the Nothing that was just waiting for her to let go, but things weren't so bad. She was alive. Her wings might have come in handy, but you couldn't have everything. She was alive. And now that her Muse powers were gone, she would be for some time. The future seemed Duracell powered in it's brilliant brightness. In the same way that humans might say that you had to sink or swim, Azreal had always heard fall or fly. For months now, she had been plummeting toward a dark end that she could not stop herself from reaching. But now, even though they were gone forever, she felt as though her wings had spread out wide and were carrying her back up towards the sun; flying higher then she had ever dared to imagine.

"So…" She said, slowly.

"So?" Seto repeated.

"…How're we going to get back up?"

It really was strange, Azreal thought, how life could turn out.

---THE END---

A/N: The End… Well, thanks to everyone who's read this far! A big big big thanks to Dragonlady222 and Willowwind who have been faithfully R&Ring all this time! And, naturally, that extends to my 'silent readers'; my younger sister who has always told me off for being distracted from this, and to Scooby or Icedragon or whatever the crud she calls herself nowadays! They've sat through all my silly ideas and rants and goodness knows what else since I started and put up with me not talking about anything else! Just one more in this series to go, eh?

Which leads onto this- there is one more fic to write about Az. Well, with Az in it- it'll be a little… different to this. But it won't be coming for a while. First I have a tale to tell involving Superheroes. It'll be fun, promise. Then it's straight to the next in, as my friend calls it, the 'Wings' series- 'Fall or Fly'! Still, it'll be strange… A lot of the OCs, my friends, you have just seen for the last proper time. Lira won't be in the next one- obviously- and I can only promise passing appearances from the Kiyoko triplets, James, and Kaho. It'll be strange, not writing them… But there will be other OCs, and hopefully I'll learn to love them to!

And so, to conclude, the stats of this fic: (Excluding A/Ns and filler chapters):

Pages: 339. Wow!

Words: 180, 330

Characters: 1, 006, 533

Paragraphs: 6, 802

Number of different names Az has been called: 8+.Azreal, Kiyoko, Mitsan, Az, 'Real, Ann, Anna, Wings- plus x number of insults from various people!

As you might've guessed, this is my longest fic to date! So thanks for reading all this way!

…Blimey, look at the time! I need to grab something to eat before youth group! That was Wherever you Go,I am Waffles4eva- and I really hope you enjoyed this fic as much as I did! (That's not including the times I got stressed over the updates, eheheheheh…) And so, for now, Goodbyyyyyyyyye!

Waffles